Slashdot Mirror
The Science of Human-Robot Love
MrSeb writes "Since Slashdot first covered lovotics back in July 2011, its creator — Hooman Samani — has been busy working on a couple of new applications for his fledgling scientific sphere of human-robot love: Kissenger and Mini-Surrogate. Kissenger is a robot with highly-sensitive and motor-actuated lips, which you can use to transmit a kiss to another Kissenger robot (held by a friend or loved one) over the internet. Mini-Surrogate is basically a real-world avatar that adds a physical element to video conferencing. Both are primarily for human-human use, but it's easy to imagine a Kissenger hooked up to an AI or video game. Likewise, the next Elder Scrolls game could come with a Mini-Surrogate, so that you can communicate with your in-game wife while you're knee-deep in fireballed orc."
Because the comments on this topic have the danger of being too hilarious :)
This is the sig that says NI (again)
When they have a device that allows me to slap people over the Internet.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Video conferencing implies board meetings to me, and I'm not sure this feature is going to be useful in that context. At least I hope not.
To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
Am I among some minority that is not just a little, but very thoroughly grossed out by this type of technology? I guess for me it triggers some sort of Uncanny Valley response, where my first instinct is not to empathize with a human-seeming robot, but to run away screaming.
"Kissenger is a robot with highly-sensitive and motor-actuated lips, which you can use to transmit a kiss to another Kissenger."
Did anyone else get the image of making out with a robot with the appearance of Henry Kissinger? Or am I the crazy one here...
Hey, it's the most action some people will get. Plus, it may give you insights into relationships you may not have previously considered.
implemented this on Big Bang Theory.
...describes a large majority of the Slashdot community.
Wait...sheep are animate objects, aren't they?
Oh come on... get it over with, make one that sucks cock. You all know we want one.
Then I'm sure that there will be a market for a cunning linguist model.
(Somebody had to say it. You know you thought about saying it. I just did it for you.)
Check your premises.
As someone who has worked in the adult "novelty" industry, I can say with confidence that sex is one area of human interaction in which the Uncanny Valley does not exist.
Seriously, humans will hump damn near anything if you make it squishy enough... filthy beasts.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
is why they don't incorporate a tongue in these devices. Even the lips on the device are not lips. Just one big lip!
I mean.. this stuff is elementary dear Watson! It's hard to commercialize a single-lipped robot.
Geekism is your _only_ God!
. . . I'll just stick with my fleet of "Cherry 2000s", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_2000, thanks anyway . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
"The penis you are using is not registered as an authorized device in our database; in order to preserve our intellectual property rights, it will now be confiscated and destroyed."
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Seriously, humans will hump damn near anything if you make it squishy enough... filthy beasts.
Who needs filthy beasts when you have tentacle monsters?
Can you fuck it?
Anyone else think the thing looks like a pig?
"I see you're wearing an amulet of Mara. Would you like root access to my love-server?"
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
DON'T DATE ROBOTS!
When they have a device that allows me to slap people over the Internet.
I'd be happy with slapping them upside the head.
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Because the comments on this topic have the danger of being too hilarious :)
Seriously, this robot thingamajig inventor's first name is "Hooman"? Does that strike anyone else as a bit too silly for belief?
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Seriously, humans will hump damn near anything if you make it squishy enough... filthy beasts.
Who needs filthy beasts when you have tentacle monsters?
That brings up the serious question that for better or worse we expanded the human experience in the printing era, more or less, with the invention of the tentacle meme. Are there any new internet era memes that have expanded the human experience in a similar way? And no this isn't a very thiny veiled request for a goatse link, I'm looking for something a little more general in concept, not one individual incident. Maybe the general concept of Camgirls? Or the concept of an infinite array of digitally delivered pr0n, not new in any individual image but new in the concept that there's an uncountable number of images?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
If we had this technology in the shape of a buttocks then it would bring telecommuting to a whole new level.
What? No Demolition Man quotes yet?. Let me show how it's done
John Spartan: "Look, Huxley, why don't we just do it the old-fashioned way?"
Lenina Huxley: "Eeewww, disgusting! You mean... fluid transfer?"
I'm curious as to why you credit the printing era with the "tentacle meme". Sure, tako to ama was a woodcut, but AFAIK there's no reason to suspect it was a new idea in Japan, and in European folklore (which I'm more, though still scantly, familiar with) bestiality definitely predates printing -- octopuses were not (so far as I know) included, probably because the octopus was not familiar to most of Europe.
/serious
Are there any new internet era memes that have expanded the human experience in a similar way? And no this isn't a very thiny veiled request for a goatse link,
No it's not. When you say "internet era memes that have expanded" anything, you stripped away all the veils, however thin, and flat-out requested a goatse link.
But because I'm such a gigantic asshole, request denied.
You're grossed out by technology that brings some affection to people who might not be able to get it otherwise? How cruel are you exactly?
Feeding the trolls here, but really? Affection? Humping a squishy piece of silicon is not affection, it's a release of sexual energy and nothing more. If it brings some people a small measure of, um, satisfaction, then so be it. But I would personally rather be forever lonely than curl up with a pair rubber lips wired to my laptop.
Besides, I didn't say it should be outlawed or anything. I just said I was extremely weirded out by the whole idea. Tell me you don't feel the same when you see that dude making out with a little rubber puppet.
It needs a girl on the other end to function.
Anyone else had pictures in his mind you had hoped you would forget?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
It needs a girl on the other end to function.
How come? On the internet nobody knows you are a dog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_dog.jpg
Furries.
Does anyone think that the kissenger bots look like rejected characters from angry birds?
Should it be Heavy Metal's "Earth women who experience sexual ecstasy with mechanical assistance always tend to feel guilty"? Or Frank Zappa's "A latent appliance fetishist is a person who refuses to admit to his-or-herself that sexual gratification can only be achieved through the use of machines"? Ooh! I just can't choose!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I'm not a bad kisser. It's just that I have an unreliable network connection! Why did they have to use UDP for this?!
I have a different reaction.
Having experienced the Internet since it started, and we all know that ChatRoulette is really PenisRoulette, I am pretty confident that it will all be dudes kissing each other while some dudes are pretending to be chicks. For whatever reason.
Approach it from the other direction....
Women. What woman, one that you would want to kiss, is going to settle for some robotic lips when they have the absolute power to go out and get a man anytime they want too?
Personally, I don't want to face the high statistical probability of kissing another dude.
I know the sex toy industry is incredibly one-sided right now towards the females, but call me a old fashioned fellow. Some Kleenex and hand lotion for me, none of that fancy robot action all you youngsters are thinking about.
What if the person on the other end is a minor while you are an adult? Do you get charged for this as if it happened in "real life"?
"To prevent this day from getting any worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD THING" 1GJU8xLuDKDxEs4KLf8fAGyptoDsqvEsBT
ahahahhahaahahha.
As for pre printing age inter species contact you might want to read up on greek mythology. Zeus seems to have been rather creative when visiting the ladies (eg Leda).
"1,245 like your weekend with your Loveboot 5000"
I know the sex toy industry is incredibly one-sided right now towards the females
I think the sex toy industry is atleast two-sided towards females right now. Still mostly one-sided towards towards men though.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
I feel like telling a woman I actually have one of these things would probably ruin the chances of getting that kiss.
Can you imagine asking someone if they have a virtual kissing pig? How do you do it?
Didn't it appear in The Big Bang Theory? One of Howard's experiments, I believe.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
the idea with lips is nice, but not marketable. they should produce fleshlight/vibrator combos, now that would sell.